While the Dodgers have drawn national attention with their drive toward the top of the meager NL West, the Tampa Bay Rays have been the hottest team in baseball. Despite a $62 million payroll that’s roughly $30 million less than the Orioles’, half that of the Blue Jays, well below what the Yankees have invested in players on the disabled list alone and less than 1/3 of the Red Sox’, the Rays are 17-2 over their last 19 games — a stretch that’s helped them gain ground on the Red Sox.

Entering a four-game series in Fenway Park on Monday, the Rays sit only 1.5 games behind first-place Boston, in position to take the lead in the Majors’ most toughly contested division with a series win. Since a pair of losses in the Bronx that dropped them to 38-37, the Rays have played better in practically all facets of the game and gained two spots in the standings. But from looking at their construction, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

The pitching: In their last 24 games, Rays pitchers are 20-4 with a 2.19 ERA in 222 innings. That’s a Cy Young Award caliber season spread across an entire pitching staff. One of the big differences has come in the return — and return to form — of ace David Price. Price struggled in the early part of the season before spending six weeks on the disabled list with a triceps strain. In four starts since his return, Price averaged eight innings a game — taking strain off the bullpen — with a 1.97 ERA and an excellent 23:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

With Alex Cobb set to start a rehab stint after an ugly concussion suffered last month, the Rays may soon face the best type of problem: Too many capable starting pitchers for too few rotation starts. On paper, veteran Roberto Hernandez (ne Fausto Carmona) seems the odd man out with the starting staff’s highest ERA, but his high ground ball rate and solid strikeout-to-walk ratio suggest he should perform a bit better moving forward. And since the Rays have spent years stockpiling young pitchers, they have ready options in Class AAA in case of more injury or any ineffectiveness.

All this, of course, after the club traded veterans James Shields and Wade Davis to the Royals in the offseason for top prospect Wil Myers. Speaking of which:

The offense: The 22-year-old Myers has hit .318 with a .796 OPS since joining the Major League Rays in mid-June. He entered a crowded outfield picture that already featured solid performers Matt Joyce, Desmond Jennings and Kelly Johnson, but Myers’ presence in right field has allowed the club to creatively use Johnson and super utility man Ben Zobrist in various infield positions. Jennings, a 26-year-old former top prospect, has also helped spark the Rays’ hot stretch, hitting .315 with a .908 OPS in his last 27 games.

Outside of Zobrist and franchise third baseman Evan Longoria, the team doesn’t have any established offensive stars. But with eight players producing above league average, they’ve got a deep lineup that, combined with some positional flexibility, allows them to field a good offensive club even when multiple regulars need rest or time off due to injuries. The Rays’ .754 team OPS is fourth best in the American League. Accounting for their home park makes it look even better.

The defense: Manager Joe Maddon is celebrated for his aggressive use of defensive shifting based on opposing hitters’ tendencies, which undoubtedly helps his pitchers. But over their 17-2 run, the Rays have allowed only one opposing batter to reach base on error. The team has boasted one of the very best defensive clubs in baseball for the last five years. In 2013, they’re second only to the Oakland A’s in the American League in defensive efficiency — the rate at which teams turn balls in play into outs.

There’s more to the Rays’ recent success than their players simply playing better, of course. Some of it, certainly, is mere good luck. Some of it is likely because they’ve faced a very weak spate of opponents, with two series against the Houston Astros and contests against the last-place Toronto Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox.

That changes right now, with the team headed for Fenway then continuing on to Yankee Stadium. But don’t be surprised if by next week, the Rays look like the team to beat in baseball’s toughest division. With the club healthy and performing in all phases of the game, they sport the deepest roster in the division and appear as well positioned as any club in the division to pull ahead of the pack in the season’s second half.

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